Bullet Points: Commando Squad
My latest trip into the Trans World Entertainment vault (TWE for those in the know) found me watching 1987’s Fred Olen Ray directed Commando Squad.
Commando Squad is one of those movies that seemed to pop up frequently when I was doing IMDb research for other movies. The poster with Kathy Shower (The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck and American Kickboxer 2) and Brian Thompson (Lionheart and Hired to Kill) is pretty epic and every time I would see the poster, I found myself yearning to see the movie… it just looked so awesome!
- Kat Scratch Fever: The movie opens with some narration provided by Kathy Shower’s character Kat Withers. Kat’s narration will be featured through out the movie as will Kat’s ass kicking abilities which are on display in the opening scene… but when Kat reports in with her boss Milo (Robert Quarry, Cyclone) before leaving on her long awaited and much needed Hawaiian vacation, Milo dumps some heavy news on her. Multiple agents under his command have gone missing in Mexico where they were investigating a massive cocaine operation including Kat’s former partner, Clint Jensen (Brian Thompson). Clint has not reported in in over 4 days and Kat knows that is not like him, so she puts Waikiki on hold and finds herself heading down Mexico way…
- South of the Border: Clint Jensen is alive and well and he and his new partner Sunny, played by Tane McClure who you may remember from such movies as Death Spa and Assault of the Party Nerds 2: The Heavy Petting Detective, are working undercover and have set a meeting with one of the criminal underlings in hopes of catching the bigger fish… but in actuality they have been set up. So their meeting with Iggy (Sid Haig, Coffy) quickly goes sideways… Clint and Sunny make it to their car and speed off, but the bad guys have a helicopter and they are throwing grenades in the direction of our drug busting heroes. The barrage of grenades eventually causes the car to flip… Clint crawls out and grabs a rocket launcher that was in the back seat and takes the helicopter out of the equation… but when Clint goes to check on Sunny he finds her dead. Again Sunny was played by Tane McClure who you may remember from such movies as Who Killed Buddy Blue? and Married People, Single Sex II: For Better or Worse.
- Out of the Frying Pan: Clint manages to make contact with Milo, who tells him to find a woman named Anita, their informant inside the drug cartel. Clint does… but unfortunately the bad guys have figured Anita out so Clint finds himself captured and he also learns the identity of the traitor in his own camp… Morgan Denny (William Smith, Eye of the Tiger). Morgan proved that every man has his price and he found his. Morgan is absolutely remorseless that his treachery was the cause of some of his former co-workers meeting their demise and it is at that moment I started counting down the minutes until Morgan got his. It was also at that point that I knew there was no way there could be a movie with Brian Thompson and William Smith where both were playing against type.
- Be Prepared: Before hopping on a plane to Mexico, Kat makes a stop at Casey’s poster shop… which is really a front for Kat’s weapons supplier. Casey offers Kat the deluxe surprise package that includes the “vengeance knife”, which is a knife filled with sulfuric acid, you stick it deep inside your bad guy of choice and break the handle off and the acid releases inside the victim… talk about a double whammy! Casey arranges to have the package delivered and Kat is now ready for action!
- Unwelcome Wagon: Kat arrives in Mexico and she is quickly greeted by some of the bad guys which results in Kat’s Cessna pilot being shot, the plane being blown up and Kat nearly being captured. Morgan is pissed that his boys failed to eliminate Kat upon arrival, so he goes in with a different approach pretending to be Kat’s ally… and Kat is more than willing to play along if it means finding Clint and taking down the whole cocaine operation. SPOILER ALERT! It does and I was elated to see Clint plunge the aforementioned “vengeance knife” deep inside the traitorous Morgan Denny and the sulfuric acid fumes coming out of his nose as his dead body laid on the ground! Take that you Benedict Arnold!
Was Commando Squad as awesome as the poster made it out to be in my mind? Yes and no. I think the fact that Kathy Shower’s appearance is so drastically different in the movie compared to the poster is a negative. But aside from that, the movie really did meet most of my expectations with the death of William Smith’s Morgan Denny exceeding my expectations.
Now let’s get the F out of here with some Bonus Bullet Points…
- Familiar Face: Another one of the bad guys in the movie was known simply as Cowboy. Cowboy was played by Ross Hagen who I instantly recognized as Drago from Action U.S.A. and as Midnight in Blood Games.
- Favorite Quote: “I’m calling you a midget donkey fucker. Want to do something about it?” – Kat
- Frame Worthy: Prior to Kat’s arrival at the poster shop, there was a kid buying a poster of 1986’s The Tomb… another TWE movie directed by Fred Olen Ray!
